Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-03-03
OUR EXPENSIVE SENATE.


what q Costs TO lSeep Congress ia Rqgs uSng
Order.
The leg islative, executive, and jSStcia-
'appror 5ation biz, now on the house cal
endar, aggregates $g0,2S6,9ll. This
amount is S+1S56S5 below the sum aPpro-
priate6 for theascal year and SIS 1890
below the estimate of the secretary of the
treasurT. 1t is casual for the o0nEHsittee
on appropriations in preparing their bills
TO take into consideration the fast that
many Of the amSunts reported will De in
creased by the house and maay others by
the senate. Acting upon this tkeccy, the
committee redeee some of the GMounts
presented in the estimates in the fall be-
lief thst the figr-es reported by tsssm will
be raised. Judging from Previous eU3per-
fence, r;t is riskiGg little that the pending
bill Will be increased in amount at least
$l,00G000 by tke time the senGse com
pletesGt.
REORGANIZATION of the expenses of the
senate and ho2ss reveals a fev interesting
facts. The totgl amount appropriated
for tbs senate is,$ 900, which Goes not
include Ss41, 06Gts sked for TO pay priyate
secretaries to senators who are net chair
men CT committees, ana which amount
the senate will certainly add The salar-
les of 7g6 senator's amount TO $a90,09Q
To wai5 upon these 76 senator's the scr
vices Ok ZIG officers and employees are ne
quired, at an annual cost of 8;GG0,3SE
These figures chow that the services Of
three attendants are necessary tie each
senator, the avaoage annual pay of the
attendants being|1, 391. The attendants
are pioyed nos more than ten months
of the ~ months included in session of
congress, whishweuld give each of ehem
a salary of S2fS per month for tie time
actually employed
To pay salaries &c @25 represen tay5ivea
and eigh1c3elegatsss$ 1 G95 ,oIs0 is pegaired
to pay 30s officers aud employees, SGSe,-
1l3. The 6ifferences5etwee these figures
and those representing the aggregate
acquired Sc pay senate officials is wor thy
of notice, as it ,Will explain in s0zae
measure tae animal sauabble bet~een the
'two branches on this question. The az
-ecage paid the official is S1,244 per cir
mum, whica,is $l87 less than that paid by
the senate. The seq ate force is equal
te three assietants to,each senator while
mat of the house Is less than one for
each member.
Ehe mileage of senators costs Sa3 600
92s. The seneSe mileage divided per
espTa would give every Fe1ator over 1894
a SUN sufficient TO furnish each of them
with tirst-cIass passage fcom San Fran
cisco to London or Paris. The house
mileage foots up Sil0,62a which is equi-
valent TO 1888 20 per capita. The al
lGwanee per miIe each wa7 is 20 cents.
At the last session the mileage of officers
of ths army aud navy, when travelling
Under orders, wac fixed ats cents per
mile. Il the present session, in the sun
dry civil bill, this allowance was fixed at
actual expenses, exclusive of Sleeping and
parl0r car charges. and cents per mile.
Able Arguments were made in the house
to show that this allowance was ample TO
covor the travelling expenses of all other
governments officials. why not apply it to
members OF congress-? Here is good
opportunities save $4,000 per annum
For contingent expenses the bill pro
vides for the senate 90 $50, and for the
house 1887, these sums, divided pes
capita, would give each senator from TIE
fund Ss2l and each represent
alive S3f2. Summarizing the incidental
expense of congressman, exclusive OF
their annual salary OF $4,000, each senat-
or costs the government TO provide him
With attendance over IS .307 per 'annum,
and the cost of each representative and
delegate is $50, the senate's total for
personal attendance is $403, 37g: that of
the hOlse.S Gl2 674.